Jason Segel呈現了作家那種不願圓滑但又無法使人生厭的性格。Jason的咬字很迷人,語氣中有種慢悠悠自然帶著玩笑揶揄的韻律,聽過他為電影宣傳的訪談,平時講話方式相去不遠,湊巧放在作家身上毫無扞格。據Wallace的友人表示Jason的詮釋不太像現實中的作家David Wallace,但他完整立體得使人信服,來自於他的反應真實得太有說服力。Wallace總是雙手抱胸,駝背,試圖縮小自己龐大的身軀,掩蓋自己尖銳的智慧。我相信他是真認為自己只是個普通人,因為所有人都那麼不普通,就像他好幾次稱讚Lipsky「如果文章全是用你的話寫成一定非常有趣」,或「我無法像你那麼有條理地整理表達這個念頭」。他對自己嚴格得接近殘忍,透過他髒兮兮的圓眼鏡看出去整個世界都饒富興味。
沒有讀過Lipsky的著作Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself ,也就說不準電影裡的幾幕是照實搬演還是敘述的意象化。可那些畫面如此敏銳。第一晚Lipsky被請入Wallace的客房,他在後者重重環伺的著作中輾轉難眠;最後一早Lipsky起身時早晨的光線中飛旋的塵埃;最後一幕Wallace不熟練但肆意舞動的身軀,鏡頭切出的軌道真好;夜半的訪客離開後,Lipsky轉過臉來才在反光下顯現的眼淚;好幾幕記者的眼淚都以非常克制的方式攤開,反而令人低迴哀感。
-We are both so young. He wants something better than he has; I want precisely what he has already.
Neither of us knows where our lives are going to go. It smells like chewing tobacco, soda, and smoke. And the conversation is the best one I ever had.
David thought books existed to stop you from feeling lonely. If I could, I’d say to David that living those days with him reminded me of what life is like, instead of being a relief
from it... and I’d tell him it made me feel much less alone.